A week ago the episode of the CBS reality show the Amazing Race took
place in Vietnam. Much to the chagrin of Vietnam era veterans, the show
included a memorial of remnants of downed B-52 that took American lives and a
Communist propaganda anthem. Interestingly Bob Beckel, a liberal progressive political
commentator for Fox News Channel and a co-host for The Five exploded in
protest. Mr. Beckel rallied supporters and together they demanded an apology from
the show’s producers. CBS caved and an apology was offered preceding the next
episode. What I really love about this situation is that this was not liberal
vs. conservative or Democrat vs. Republican. I can’t help but wonder what
believers might accomplish if we would simply set aside our denominational
differences and come together in a bipartisan manner within the will of God and
focus on current media issues that are attacking the faith we share. Jesus
reminds us, “Again, I tell you that if
two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you
by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in
my name, there am I with them.” (Matt 18:19-20 NIV)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----We are so great and marvelous who wink at the multitudinous lies of our President, who pronounce blessings upon perversion, who wage war against the right of a man to protect his loved ones against criminals, who refuse to count as criminal the governmental theft of the fruits of one man’s labors to bestow upon the poverty of another man’s slothfulness, who deny our own children be taught the facts of right and wrong and honor and respect for morality, purity, and the life-long commitment of a wedding vow, or even be taught what was once the exceptionalism of the American way? Something about us had been exceptional. Out to sea and a bit north of the enshrined B-52 wreckage is a clue. Japan. Defeated by us, but not possessed. Set free to be prosperous. And back at this wreckage is another. The ability to understand that every man approaches life from a perspective which indelibly ties in to individuality, because that is the only way any man can approach his life.
-----The failure to realize that point is why we do not set aside our denominational differences and focus on what is currently attacking our faith. If we needed chin-ups to maintain our strength, we would need to embed two ends of a bar into equally solid supports lest it would not bear the load of raising our chins. One side of faith’s bar must be solidly embedded within the right of an individual to tie perspective tightly into what makes his life unique. That does not make the knots he ties right. But it enshrines his uniqueness as another individual worth the treasure of the universe - the death of the God of Creation. At that end of the bar of common value lays the B-52 and the strange denomination alike.
-----Supporting the other end of the bar is everything laughably true and commonly necessary. That wealth comes from hard work, that it is nothing more than provision for life, and that everyone must have some or die means some amongst us must work hard making provision or we all die. So, around the world, matter not how it looks or what processes it takes or how its managerial systems function, there is work. Work must play into the economy at hand regardless of its myriads of unique and individual participants. The better work orders the similarities of those parts, the more efficiently wealth is created. And wealth is created massively if the process tries not own the individual nor the individual the process, as the communists of Viet Nam finally realized in 1986.
-----Faith must work the same way. Amongst all the differences of not only our denominations, but of Muslim and Buddhist and Hindu and whatever else is the laughably true fact of their right to be what they are. That right does not make any one or all of them correct. It is merely the work producing a spiritual wealth of religious economics. This no more says all spiritual wealth is beneficial than property rights says all physical wealth is beneficial. It merely says the right is precious because what about it that supports errors also supports the truth. It is then for the individual to take that bar in hand and put his own chin to it. It is not for him to battle either of its supports.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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